Research News Releases

Public Release: 15-Mar-2007
2007 AAAS Annual MeetingFailure to meet United Nations sanitation target could affect millions of the world's poorest
Worldwide, billions of people lack access to a reliable source of safe drinking water and basic sanitation facilities. To address the problem, the United Nations established the Target 10 initiative, which aims to halve the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015. Now, halfway to the deadline, experts warn that the United Nations may not achieve the sanitation target.

Public Release: 12-Mar-2007
2007 AAAS Annual MeetingResearchers address developing countries' water and sanitation needs
Worldwide, more than one billion people lack access to an improved water source, such as a rainwater collection or dug well, and two billion still need access to basic sanitation facilities, such as a latrine. Local communities in the developing world and professional researchers are working to address these issues. Researchers recently presented their work toward this end at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
National Science Foundation

Public Release: 23-Feb-2007
2007 AAAS Annual MeetingLooking for life on Jupiter's icy moon Europa
If life exists on other planets, it almost certainly will be found where there's water. While many scientists pin their hopes on Mars, UC Berkeley paleobiologist Jere Lipps yearns to probe Jupiter's moon Europa, because its jumbled ice cover reminds him of the Antarctic ice sheets that are home to abundant life on Earth. Lipps and three other scientists discussed the possibilities at the recent AAAS meeting.

Public Release: 19-Feb-2007
2007 AAAS Annual MeetingAAAS panel will focus on the impact of livestock production on the planet
The harmful environmental effects of livestock production are becoming increasingly serious at all levels -- local, regional, national and global -- and urgently need to be addressed, according to researchers from Stanford University, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and other organizations. The researchers, representing five countries, will present their findings on Feb. 19 at the annual meeting of the American Association of the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in San Francisco.

Public Release: 19-Feb-2007
2007 AAAS Annual MeetingComputer science trouble lies in education, not jobs, Stanford professor says
Contrary to tales of doom about the decline of America's computer science industry, the biggest problem facing computing today is not a lack of jobs but a shortage of qualified workers to fill those jobs, says Stanford Professor Eric Roberts, who will speak about the crisis in computer science education at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) on Feb. 19 in San Francisco.
Stanford University

Public Release: 19-Feb-2007
2007 AAAS Annual MeetingScientists will discuss creating a culture of sustainability February 19 at AAAS
Addressing climate-change impacts is often more about ethics than economics, and universities have an especially important role to play in helping humans ensure the planet's sustainability, according to Stanford University environmental researchers participating in a symposium on climate and public policy at the annual AAAS meeting of in San Francisco. Stanford scientists Paul Ehrlich and Stephen Schneider join other panelists to discuss the culture of sustainability on February 19.

Public Release: 19-Feb-2007
2007 AAAS Annual MeetingComputer scientist reveals the math and science behind blockbuster movies
On February 19 at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Francisco, movie lovers get a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the physics-based simulations that breathe life into fantasy. Ron Fedkiw, an assistant professor of computer science at Stanford, will speak about computations used to make solids and fluids more realistic in feature films.
Stanford, US Office of Naval Research, National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Packard Foundation, Sloan Foundation

Public Release: 19-Feb-2007
2007 AAAS Annual MeetingStudy to forecast side effects of pollution policy
The University of Michigan is leading a four-university team in a large-scale project to develop software to help analysts craft greenhouse gas reduction policies in the transportation industry.

Public Release: 19-Feb-2007
2007 AAAS Annual MeetingRiding the winds of change
Climate change is forcing the Inuit to change the traditional way of doing things. NSERC grantee Barry Smit says they are sometimes not being given the tools they need to make the correct lifestyle decisions. He will lead a discussion to probe this issue -- part of a larger problem of bridging knowledge across disciplines -- at the annual conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science today in San Francisco.
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council

Public Release: 19-Feb-2007
2007 AAAS Annual MeetingScholar explores the question of who speaks for science
What role can scientists play in public decisions about the development and deployment of weapons systems? As the United States continues to commit its troops and technology around the world, this question is worrisome to the public and to concerned scientists alike. According to Rebecca Slayton, a lecturer in the Program in Science, Technology, and Society at Stanford, there's some hope: Science gives experts an important, albeit limited, space for influencing public decisions.
Slayton will make her case February 19 at the AAAS meeting.
Stanford University

Public Release: 19-Feb-2007
2007 AAAS Annual MeetingScientist advocates increased fisheries data gathering
Fisheries management decisions are often based on population models. However, those models need quality data to be effective. It's that caliber and volume of data that is lacking in fisheries science, according to Milo Adkison, an associate professor in the School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Public Release: 19-Feb-2007
2007 AAAS Annual MeetingModel helps explore patterns of urban sprawl and implicaitons for quality of life
About 81 percent of the United States' population now lives in urban areas, as does almost half of the world's total population. Scientists and engineers say that as the trend continues there's increasing urgency for societies to learn how to develop more sustainable urban environments. Among them is John Crittenden, an engineering professor at Arizona State University who is giving a presentation on February 19 at the AAAS annual meeting.

Public Release: 18-Feb-2007
2007 AAAS Annual MeetingEffective carbon control policy improves competition, climate, cost of power generation
Carnegie Mellon University Professor Jay Apt warns in a forthcoming paper f the consequences of delay in enacting effective electric sector policy. He will present his research in a presentation titled "Controlling Carbon in the United States Electric Power Sector," Feb. 18 at the American Association for the Advancement of Science's (AAAS) annual meeting in San Francisco. His presentation will be part of a session titled "Energy or Climate Security: Do We Have to Choose?"

Public Release: 18-Feb-2007
2007 AAAS Annual MeetingJupiter's moon Europa should be NASA's next target, says ASU researcher
As NASA develops its next "flagship" mission to the outer solar system, Jupiter's enigmatic moon Europa should be the target, says Arizona State University professor Ronald Greeley. Although Europa lies five times farther from the Sun than Earth, he notes it may offer a home for life. He is presenting the Europa proposal today (February 18) at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Francisco.

Public Release: 18-Feb-2007
2007 AAAS Annual MeetingTobacco companies obstructed science, history professor says
Stanford history Professor Robert Proctor will speak about the tobacco industry February 18 during a symposium -- ''The Sociopolitical Manufacturing of Scientific Ignorance'' -- at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Francisco.
Stanford University

Public Release: 18-Feb-2007
2007 AAAS Annual MeetingRNAi shows promise in gene therapy, Stanford researcher says
Three years ago Mark Kay, MD, PhD, published the first results showing that a biological phenomenon called RNA interference could be an effective gene therapy technique. Since then he has used RNAi gene therapy to effectively shut down the viruses that cause hepatitis and HIV in mice.

Public Release: 18-Feb-2007
2007 AAAS Annual MeetingASU researcher finds belief about neighbor's conservation is stealthily influential
If everyone jumped off a bridge, would you? Probably not, but according to a study by Arizona State University researchers, peer influence plays a greater role in people's behavior than is generally acknowledged. The study, which is being presented by ASU Regents' Professor of Psychology Robert Cialdini on Feb. 18 at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, suggests that peer influence is an under-recognized factor in energy conservation.

Public Release: 18-Feb-2007
2007 AAAS Annual MeetingClemson research improves inkjet technology
Research from Clemson University shows that producing cardiac tissue with off-the-shelf inkjet technology can be improved significantly with precise cell placement. Tom Boland, associate professor in Clemson's bioengineering department, along with Catalin Baicu of the Medical University of South Carolina, present their findings today (2-18) at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Conference in San Francisco.

Public Release: 18-Feb-2007
2007 AAAS Annual MeetingCancer cells more likely to genetically mutate
When cells become cancerous, they also become 100 times more likely to genetically mutate than regular cells, researchers have found. The findings may explain why cells in a tumor have so many genetic mutations, but could also be bad news for cancer treatments that target a particular gene controlling cancer malignancy.

Public Release: 18-Feb-2007
2007 AAAS Annual MeetingNew evidence of the link between carbon dioxide emissions and climate change in boreal ecosystems
New research aimed at understanding the link between carbon dioxide emissions and climate change in boreal systems has found clear links between both spring and fall temperature changes and carbon uptake/loss. Dr. Kevin Robert Gurney, assistant professor in the Earth & Atmospheric Science/Agronomy at Purdue University and associate director of the Purdue Climate Change Research Center, presented these results at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in San Francisco, Calif., on December 17.

Public Release: 18-Feb-2007
2007 AAAS Annual MeetingFlavanols in cocoa may offer benefits to the brain
New data, presented at the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences (AAAS), suggests cocoa flavanols may enhance brain blood flow and improve cognitive health.
Mars Incorporated

Public Release: 18-Feb-2007
2007 AAAS Annual MeetingCancer that colonizes our bodies
Tomorrow AAAS Fellow, Robert C. von Borstel will talk about how cancer cell mutation and selection are metaphorically similar to the evolution of a new species.
Like the first pregnant finch that landed in the Galapagos, the first cancer cell in a body has to undergo many mutations through many generations to establish itself. But once there, like any newly stabilized species in different ecological niches, cancer is tough to get rid of.
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council

Public Release: 18-Feb-2007
2007 AAAS Annual MeetingK-State National Agricultural Biosecurity Center director speaker at AAAS Biosecurity Symposium
David R. Franz, director of Kansas State University's National Agricultural Biosecurity Center, gave a presentation on some of the vulnerabilities and threats to the nation's livestock industry at a symposium on agricultural biosecurity, a part of the annual meeting of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science, Feb. 15-19, in San Francisco.